Rivet gun

ABSTRACT

Rivet gun having a ratchet mechanism in which the force available is selectively changeable from one range to another.

United States Patent [191 LaPointe Sept. 23, 1975 RIVET GUN 3.190,]04 6/1965 Anthony 72/391 [75] Inventor: Gabriel M. Lapointe, Worcester, 3,713,321 l/l973 La Polnte 72/391 Mass. FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [73] Assignee; Parker Manufacturing Company, 119,160 ll/l944 Australia 72/391 Worcester, Mass.

[22] Filed: June 21, 1974 [21] App]. No.: 481,487

[52] U.S. Cl 72/391; 72/452 [51] Int. Cl. B21J 15/34 [58] Field of Search 72/391, 114, 452

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,909,302 10/1959 Hamlin 72/391 Primary ExaminerC. W. Lanham Assistant ExaminerGene P. Crosby Attorney, Agent, or FirmNorman S. Blodgett; Gerry A. Bledgett [57] ABSTRACT Rivet gun having a ratchet mechanism in which the force available is selectively changeable from one range to another.

8 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures US Patent Sept. 23,1975 Sheet 1 of4 3,906,774

FIG. I

US Patent Sept. 23,1975 Sheet 2 of4 3,906,774

FIG. 2

Sheet 3 of 4 Sept. 23,1975

US Patent US Patent Sept. 23,1975 Sheet4 of4 3,906,774

3 I 47 & ammmam 1 mmaamma] xww 1 FIG. 4 I? FIG. 7

RIVET GUN BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the art of riveting it has become common practice to make use of the so-called blind rivet. This type of 5 rivet is tubular in nature and consists of a short tube having a radial flange at one end. A headed mandrel (similar to a common nail) extends through the tube with its head at the end of the tube opposite the flanged end. The rivet gun is used to pull the nail while supporting the flange against a facing surface of a wallwith the extending through a suitable aperture. This causes the tube at the other side of the wall to collapse, thus producing a hollow rivet. Originally, the rivet guns used for this operation consisted of two long handles pivoted together to act as first degree levers, one lever holding the tube, while the other lever pulled the nail. While these operated effectively with small rivets, as the art progressed the rivets became larger and began to be used commercially instead of only for home workshop functions. These larger rivets demanded greater force for the collapse of the tubular rivet and for the breaking of the nail, resulting in the necessity of longer levers to give the required mechanical advantage. At that time it was suggested that a rivet gun operating hydraulically would be effective and for that purpose the hydraulic gun shown and described in the patent of LaPointe US. Pat. No. 3,713,321, which issued Jan. 30, 1973, was evolved. The force available by pumping this hydraulic type of rivet gun meant that almost any force was available for any size of rivet. However, such a gun was quite expensive and could be made available as a practical matter only for the commercial use. Attempts to produce a mechanically-operated rivet gun which was compact (in a manner similar to the LaPointe rivet gun) have been unsuccessful, because the mechanical advantage of the prior art long arrns is not available when one chooses to make the compact rivet gun. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.

It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide a rivet gun which is compact and inexpensive, but which is capable of exerting sufficient force to operate on heavy duty rivets.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a rivet gun which is compact in form and size and whose operation can be changed from a high-force range to a low-force range.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a rivet gun which is entirely mechanical in nature and which is capable of operating on small rivets as well as large rivets.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide a rivet apparatus having the general confirmation of a gun and having mechanical actuation, which apparatus is capable of operation with large rivets.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a rivet gun which is inexpensive to manufacture, which is rugged and capable of use in heavy duty applications, and which is capable ofa long life of useful service with a minimum of maintenance.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a rivet gun which is quickly changeable from high-force, short-stroke operation to low-force, long-stroke operatron.

With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In general, the invention consists of a rivet gun for use with a tubular rivet supplied with a collapsing mandrel. The gun has a main body with a handle and with a grip for grasping the mandrel. It has rivet anvil mounted for movement away from the main body and it has a squeeze handle pivotally mounted on the main body and located adjacent the handle. A ratchet mechanism is enclosed within the housing and joins the lever to the anvil.

More specifically, the ratchet mechanism consists of a ratchet member which is slidable in the housing, which is provided with ratchet teeth, and which is directly connected to the anvil. It has a pawl member which is also slidable in the housing for engagement with the ratchet teeth and which is operated by the squeeze lever. The position of the axis about which the squeeze lever is pivotally mounted on the main body is adjustable to change the length of the stroke of the pawl member brought about by the operation of the squeeze lever.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The character of the invention, however, may be best understood by reference to one of its structural forms, as illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rivet gun embodying the principlesof the present invention,

. FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the rivet gun,

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the gun taken on DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein are best shown the general features of the invention, the rivet gun, indicated generally by the reference numeral 10, is shown as having a main body 11 and having a handle 12, giving the assemblage the general appearance of a pistol. Extending from the main body is an anvil 14, which is adapted to engage the flange on a tubular rivet, while the mandrel of the rivet is held within the gun. Pivotally mounted on the main body 11 adjacent the handle 12, is a squeeze lever 15. As is evident in FIG. 1, the anvil 14 is mounted on a ratchet member 17 which extends outwardly of the main body. Underlying this portion of the body is a finger 29. Extending from the side of the main body is a selection disk 25 with a finger ridge 26 protruding from it to permit the disk to bc'rotated to select one of two ranges of rivet gun operation.

FIG. 3 shows particularly well the internal mechanism of the gun. It shows the construction of the grip 13 which serves to grasp the mandrel of the rivet. A ratchet mechanism, indicated generally by the reference numeral 16, connects the squeeze lever 15 to the anvil 14 to cause the latter to advance incrementally from the main body. The ratchet mechanism includes the ratchet member 17 which is longitudinally slidably carried in the main body and which is formed on its undersurface with ratchet teeth 18. A pawl member 19 is also longitudinally slidably mounted in the main body and is provided in its upper surface with teeth for engagement with the ratchet teeth 18.

The position of the axis about which the squeeze lever 15 is pivotally mounted in the main body is adjustable to change the length of the stroke of the pawl member 19 that takes place when the squeeze lever is operated. An actuating lever 21 is pivotally mounted in the main body about an axis intermediate of its length, with one end 22 engaging the pawl member 19 and the other end 23 engaging the squeeze lever 15, at a point substantially spaced from the pivotal axis AA of the squeeze lever. The squeeze lever 15 is mounted on a shaft 24 which extends transversely of the main body and carries the disk 25 on one side of the main body and a disk 25' on the other side. The disks are eccentric to the axis A-A of the shaft. Also, the disks are carried in aligned bores formed in their respective walls of the main body and are rotatably carried in these bores. As is evident in FIG. 2, the disk 25 carries the finger ridge 26 to permit it to be rotated and the main body is provided with indicia HI and L to indicate the ranges to which the gun can be set. The said other end 23 of the actuating lever 21 is curved to extend around the shaft 24 and to engage a fiat portion 27 on the actuating lever, this flat portion extending radially away from the axis AA. The rotation of the disk 25 carries the shaft 24 and the opposite disk 25' laterally in the direction of the flat portion 27. In other words, the distance from the axis AA to the point of contact of the end 23 of the actuating lever 21 with the lever is adjusted substantially.

A tooth lock 28 also engages the ratchet teeth 18 on the ratchet member 17. The lock 28 extends between two side plates 37 which lie on either side of the pawl member 19 and are pivoted on the rivet 38. Note that one end of the spring 33 extends upwardly and engages a pin 39, but also extends between the plates. The plate is, therefore, biased in the clockwise direction (in FIG. 3) and normally engages the ratchet teeth 18. The fingcr 29 is pivotally mounted on a pin 41 which extends across the main body and is provided with a horn 42 which engages on occasion with a pin 43 which extends between the side plates 37 and is capable of moving the plates and the lock 28 downwardly against the pressure of the spring 33. A pair of springs 31 maintain the ratchet member 17 biased to the right, normally in a position such that a pin 44 lies in the left-hand end of a slot 45 formed in the ratchet member. The pawl member 19 is also provided with a longitudinal slot 46 in which residues the rivot 38. The upper part of the pawl member 19 is provided with an upwardly extending finger 48 which is engaged by a coil spring 32, which not only biases the pawl member to the right (so that the rivet 38 resides in the left-hand side of the slot 46), but also provides a spring couple on the finger 48 that causes the pawl member to rotate about the axis of the rivet 38 to maintain its teeth in connection with the ratchet teeth 18. The torsion spring 33 is wrapped aroung the shaft 24 and has one end which engages a pin 39 to press the lock 28 up into engagement, and the other end of which engages the squeeze handle 15 to maintain it biased in clockwise direction about the axis AA.

FIG. 4 shows the manner in which a pair of the springs 31 act to bias the ratchet member 17 by acting between the main body 11 and a plate 47 which ex tends laterally from it. It also shows the manner in which a clip 49 is mounted in the main body to enclose the springs 32 for their engagement with the finger 48 of the pawl member 19.

FIG. 9 shows particularly well the manner in which the plates 37 are located in the main body and joined by the pin 43. It also shows the transverse pin 51 which extends across the main body and engages the squeeze handle 15 to prevent the spring 33 from biasing it too far from the handle 12.

FIG. 7 shows the manner in which the disk 25' is provided with a pin engageable with a slot 36 formed in the side of the main housing. The arcuate slot is also shown in FIG. 3. The disk 25 is provided with a similar pin and slot. It also shows that the squeeze handle 15 consists of two plates 52 and 53 held in spaced relationship with the spring 33 lying between them.

FIG. 8 shows the construction of the squeeze handle 15 and the manner in which a plastic insert 55 lies between plates 52 and 53 and is riveted to them.

The operation of the apparatus will now be readily understood in view of the above description. Before beginning the operation on a rivet, the apparatus is in the condition shown in FIG. 3 with the ratchet member 17 completely drawn into the main body 11, with the anvil 14 pressed against the main body and against the grip 13, and with the pin 44 residing in the left-hand side of the slot 45. The squeeze handle 15 is in its inoperative position pressed against the stop pin 51 by the spring 33. A rivet is placed in the opening in the walls or sheets that are to be fastened together with the flange on the side of the walls to be fastened which faces toward the operator. The mandrel extends from the rivet. The operator places the gun over the mandrel, so that the mandrel enters the grip 13 and is seized by it in the well-known manner. The anvil 14 is pressed against the flange of a large-sized tubular rivet. The disk 25 is positioned so that the finger ridge 26 points toward the indicia on the main body indicating HI. If the rivet is a small sized one, it is rotated 180 so that the finger ridge 26 points toward the indicia LO. In the drawings the apparatus is set up to operate on large rivets, thus giving a high force and a small stroke. As is evident in FIG. 3, the axis AA is in its left-hand position, so that the distance from the axis AA to the point of contact of the end 23 of the actuating lever 21 against the straight portion 27 of the squeeze handle 15 is short. The operator grasps the handle 12 and squeezes the lever 15 toward the handle. This causes the straight portion 27 to press the end 23 of the actuating lever 21 in a counter-clockwise direction, thus causing the end 22 to press to the left (in FIG. 3). This causes the pawl member 19 to move to the left and, since it is engaged with the ratchet teeth 18 of the ratchet member 17, the ratchet member 17 moves to the left. Since the anvil 14 is pressed against the flange of the tubular rivet, the net effect is to push the entire gun away from the rivet. Since the mandrel is held in the grip 13, such movement pulls the mandrel out of the rivet. As the ratchet member 17 moves to the left, its teeth slide over the teeth of the lock 28; since the lock is rotatable about the rivet 38 and is spring-biased upwardly, it is able to cam its way over the teeth on the return stroke. When the operator releases the squeeze handle 15, the spring 33 moves it in the opposite direction, so that the end 22 moves away from the pawl member 19. The springs 32, therefore, cause the pawl member to move to the right, camming their way over the teeth 18 of the ratchet member 17. Eventually, the pawl member reaches the condition where it can go no further to the right because of the rivet 38 striking the left-hand end of the slot 46. When it moves to the right, of course, its teeth cam their way over the ratchet teeth 18 because the pawl member is capable of rotating about the axis represented by the rivet 38. This cycle of operation is continued with the ratchet member 17 and the anvil l4 advancing further and further to the left or, in effect, pushing the rest of the gun to the right away from the tubular rivets flange and carrying the mandrel with it. Eventually, the mandrel collapses the other end of the rivet and itself is broken within the rivet. The operator then engages the finger 29 and draws it in the counter-clockwise direction about the pin 41. This causes the horn 42 to engage the pin 43 and pull the side plate 37 associated with the lock 28 downwardly against the pressure of the spring 33 against the pin 39. Once the teeth of the lock 28 are disengaged from the ratchet teeth 18, the springs 31 push the ratchet member 17 back into the main body until the pin 44 reaches the left-hand end of the slot 45. The gun is ready for the next rivet.

It can be seen, therefore, that by adjusting the disk 25 either to the H] or the LO position, it is possible to obtain either large force with a small stroke or a low force with a large stroke.

It is obvious that minor changes may be made in the form and construction of the invention without departing from the material spirit thereof. It is not, however, desired to confine the invention to the exact form herein shown and described, but it is desired to include all such as properly come within the scope claimed.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent l. A rivet gun for use with a tubular rivet having a mandrel, comprising:

a. a main body having a handle and a grip for grasping the mandrel,

b. a rivet anvil mounted to movement away from the main body,

c. a squeeze lever pivotally mounted on the main body and located adjacent the handle, and

d. a ratchet mechanism mounted in the housing and joining the lever to the anvil, wherein the ratchet mechanism includes a ratchet member slidable in the housing, having ratchet teeth and being connected to the anvil; and wherein a pawl member is also slidable in the housing for engagement with the ratchet teeth and is operated by the lever.

2. A rivet gun as recited in claim 1, wherein the position of the axis about which the squeeze lever is pivotally mounted on the main body is adjustable to change the length of the stroke of the pawl member brought about by the operation of the squeeze lever.

3. A rivet gun as recited in claim 2,-wherein an actuating lever is pivotally mounted in the main body, has one end engaging the pawl member, and has the other end engaging the squeeze lever at a part thereof spaced from the said axis.

4. A rivet gun as recited in claim 3, wherein the squeeze lever is pivotally mounted on a shaft, wherein the shaft is carried in a disk which is eccentric to the said axis, wherein the disk is rotatably carried in a bore in the main body, and wherein the disk is provided with a finger ridge to permitrotation of the disk.

5. A rivet gun as recited in claim 4, wherein the said other end of the actuating lever is curved to extend around the shaft and engage a flat portion of the squeeze lever, the rotation of the disk carrying the shaft laterally, so that the said other end of the actuating lever contacts a substantially different part of the flat portion. I

6. A rivet gun as recited in claim 5, wherein a toothed lock is mounted in the main body for engagement with the ratchet member, and a release finger is mounted in the main body and operative to move the lock away from the ratchet member.

7. A rivet gun as recited in claim 6, wherein the ratchet member is spring loaded inwardly of the main body, wherein the pawl member is slidable and is spring-biased in the same direction as the ratchet member, and wherein the squeeze lever is spring-biased away from the handle.

8. A rivet gun as recited in claim 7, wherein the pawl member is provided with a longitudinal slot in which lies a rivet extending transversely of the main body, the pawl member having its teeth for engagement with the ratchet member located at one end and a transverse finger located at the other end, a spring engaging the last-named finger to bias the pawl member so that the rivet normally lies at one extreme end of the slot and producing a rotational couple on the pawl member to keep its teeth normally in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet member. 

1. A rivet gun for use with a tubular rivet having a mandrel, comprising: a. a main body having a handle and a grip for grasping the mandrel, b. a rivet anvil mounted to movement away from the main body, c. a squeeze lever pivotally mounted on the main body and located adjacent the handle, and d. a ratchet mechanism mounted in the housing and joining the lever to the anvil, wherein the ratchet mechanism includes a ratchet member slidable in the housing, having ratchet teeth and being connected to the anvil, and wherein a pawl member is also slidable in the housing for engagement with the ratchet teeth and is operated by the lever.
 2. A rivet gun as recited in claim 1, wherein the position of the axis about which the squeeze lever is pivotally mounted on the main body is adjustable to change the length of the stroke of the pawl member brought about by the operation of the squeeze lever.
 3. A rivet gun as recited in claim 2, wherein an actuating lever is pivotally mounted in the main body, has one end engaging the pawl member, and has the other end engaging the squeeze lever at a part thereof spaced from the said axis.
 4. A rivet gun as recited in claim 3, wherein the squeeze lever is pivotally mounted on a shaft, wherein the shaft is carried in a disk which is eccentric to the said axis, wherein the disk is rotatably carried in a bore in the main body, and wherein the disk is provided with a finger ridge to permit rotation of the disk.
 5. A rivet gun as recited in claim 4, wherein the said other end of the actuating lever is curved to extend around the shaft and engage a flat portion of the squeeze lever, the rotation of the disk carrying the shaft laterally, so that the said other end of the actuating lever contacts a substantially different part of the flat portion.
 6. A rivet gun as recited in claim 5, wherein a toothed lock is mounted in the main body for engagement with the ratchet member, and a release finger is mounted in the main body and operative to move the lock away from the ratchet member.
 7. A rivet gun as recited in claim 6, wherein the ratchet member is spring loaded inwardly of the main body, wherein the pawl member is slidable and is spring-biased in the same direction as the ratchet member, and wherein the squeeze lever is spring-biased away from the handle.
 8. A rivet gun as recited in claim 7, wherein the pawl member is provided with a longitudinal slot in which lies a rivet extending transversely of the main body, the pawl member having its teeth for engagement with the ratchet member located at one end and a transverse finger located at the other end, a spring engaging the last-named finger to bias the pawl member so that the rivet normally lies at one extreme end of the slot and producing a rotational couple on the pawl member to keep its teeth normally in engagement with the teeth of the ratchet member. 